Labour MP says she's "proud" of her northern accent and "will not change"

A senior Labour MP says she has routinely been labelled ‘thick’ because of her northern accent.

Angela Rayner is the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside and also serves as shadow education secretary.

But the mother-of-three has complained that she has been receiving a barrage of abuse from online trolls whenever she appears on TV and radio interviews.

Rather than concentrating on what she says, she claims that she says that trolls are only interested in abusing her northern accent.

After appearing on Sunday’s Andrew Marr show yesterday to talk about tuition fees and other education policies, the MP took to Twitter to say that she was fed up of of being bombarded with anonymous posts.

Manchester councillor Pat Karney, who represents Harpurhey for Labour, posted on Twitter: “We don’t want you to change. Working class people always get put down. You are doing an outstanding job.”

One Twitter user said ‘you are worth 10 of them and they know it, that’s what drives them so crazy’ and another posted: “Ignore these jealous bullies.”

After her Tweet Mrs Rayner received another abusive and personal message, to which she replied: “Ah right on cue anonymous account obliges, always hiding in the shadows spewing hate out at every opportunity...”

Political commentators meanwhile said the House of Commons should ‘reflect the people it represents’ in response to the attacks.

In her maiden speech to Parliament she added: “I’m proud for myself, my family, my party and those I represent.

“As a mother, I know what it’s like to struggle to make ends meet. I will always tell it how it is - and I’ll do it in my own little northern way.”